INCONCEIVABLE

Expectation...

Reality.... where is Wesley to rescue me??? 

So this week was quite hectic. So much went on, and yet I feel like I got nothing accomplished. Which isn't true. I've been emailing (more) advisors, got my Irish bank account stuff started, saw a play, silent discoed it up for a friend's birthday, had a house party, went to clubs day, societies day, was sorted in to Gryffindor (again!), baked a cobbler, and gluten-free nutella cookies -which were amazing, if I do say so myself- went to the Cliffs of Moher... oh, and I even went to classes this week too. I'm beginning to stress over course-loads. I think I'm only going to take 12 hours this semester. As guilty as I feel about not taking a full Irish course load (which is about 15-18 hours back home) and I'm afraid of taking too few hours, I'm tired of killing myself. I'll have a bit of a tough semester in the spring, but how often are you in Ireland??? I am taking 3 literature courses and a psychology class. On top of class lectures, we also have "tutorials" for 2 of my classes. This entails us meeting with our professor in small groups and discussing material in more depth. I seriously do not feel like being so overwhelmed this semester that I don't enjoy the rest of my time here. If they try to fuss about only taking 4 classes, I'll throw an extra one in there- but for now, call me slackers McGee.


On an emotional level, travel and exhaustion caught up with me this week. I have been sweating small stuff and allowing myself to get worked up about other people's behaviors. Even worse than that- I am constantly talking about it- ranting and raving and saying things that shouldn't be said. I have been doing a lot of self-reflecting about it. As much as I tell myself I need to stop this behavior, I find myself doing it anyways. So my focus for the next week is to hold my tongue and remember that we are all human beings- that I certainly have my flaws as well. And to stop focusing on it for goodness sake!!! To top that off, I have had nightmares the past few nights. I'm hoping these will pass as well. All around, I am still thrilled about being here and love the environment and people- I just chose to focus on the negatives this week. Not my best move. So now, I shall segue in to the positives of this week.

Sunday was awesome. We were able to see two hurling matches. Now, if you've never heard of hurling, please just look it up. It is one of the most intense sports I have ever witnessed. I am kind of in love with it. We had the pleasure of watching it at the College Bar

 on campus with several other emphatic fans. It brought back that Auburn football atmosphere. I am also torn about whether or not I should buy a claddaugh ring, or wait and let someone buy it for me a long way down the road. Technically, a sweetheart should get it for you and how you wear it determines your status (including single) but I am severely lacking a sweetheart, and they're really pretty.... and I can get an original one here. My friends and I have worked out an exchange system so none of us have to buy our own (therefore avoiding the bad luck) but still, it's bittersweet. 

Next weekend will be quite interesting. I am catching a bus by myself to meet up with people in Cork. I am the only one with a non-skippable class on Fridays. Lucky me... so everyone else will be departing at 9. I will be grabbing the 2pm bus and getting there hopefully around 6. We are venturing overnight to the Blarney stone. I'm a wee bit excited :)

Monday night was a wonderful night. Had a girls night with the roommates and a few friends, where we grooved to Hercules and had homemade blueberry cobbler. My Irish friends loved it- which was wonderful! I also got to skype my lovely home roommates Ashley and Brigita. I do miss them terribly- love being here, but I wish they could come too for a little while. Tuesday night we went out for Jessie's birthday! Yay! She is a whopping 20 years old now... they grow up so fast! For her birthday, we decided to have a bit of a taste of home. We went to Eddie Rockets.


 This place, I kid you not, is the same as Johnny Rockets. The only difference? They have Fanta floats, and serve tea as well as coffee. Afterwards we moseyed over to what is quickly becoming one of our favorite local haunts. It is a pub called the Quays that hosts amazing local talent on practically a nightly basis. On Tuesday evening, they had band called Prospect Hills that played traditional Irish reels- along with The Reel Masters, who were basically straight off of Lord of the Dance. I mean, the word "wow" doesn't even begin to describe it. I have included a video, because my words cannot do it justice.

The fact that these are the typical entertainments simply makes my jaw drop. The about of culture embraced here paired with the raw talent is a splendid atmosphere to be around. After the wonderful performances at the Quays, we headed on over to Roisin Dove, a more club scene than pub. Why, you ask? Well, I shall explain in two wonderful words- "Silent Disco". Laugh if you will, but that was some of the best craic I have had so far in Ireland (well, until some guy got belligerently wasted and decided to pour beer all over us and smash the bottle at our feet). The DJs were great, playing everything from 80's hits, to hip hop cliche 70's disco to Disney songs(Under the Sea to be exact- and I belted it!) indie pop, and even "Jessie's Girl". It's like they knew it was her birthday. We danced the night away. It was fun for an evening to get back into the dance mode, but honestly the pub scene is so much better here. People actually get to know one another instead of randomly dancing on you. Wednesday was lovely- we threw a small house party. Only about 12 people came which was a bit of a bummer because I was hoping to get to know more Irish folk. At the same time, I am SOOOO glad that things didn't even come close to getting out of hand. Thursday night I began getting involved in some clubs (societies they call them- Socs for short). I went to the literary and debate soc meeting, full of hilarious characters and intellectual discussion, as well as the Potter soc.


Yes, I am a house-sorted member of a Harry Potter society. No shame. *cough* GRYFFINDOR *cough*. After some soc excitement, I met my fellow ISA-ers at the town hall to see a locally written play performed black-box style called "Heroism Hotline." It was really a great play and very well thought out. A few minor line hiccups, but other than that a very entertaining 2 hours. That night I was also able to skype my lovely old roommate Liz, as well as my mom after falsely assuming that my scanner was broken beyond repair. Another one of those "quick to judge" moments I am not proud of.... Friday's class hasn't started yet, so I was able to sleep in that morning. Well, as far as mother nature would let me. One thing about Ireland- 9 out of 10 times, there's a sleepy cloudiness that covers the region. When it's sunny, you want to enjoy every moment of that sunshine you can. So after 7 hours of sleep, I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 9am, ready to take on the world. And by that, I obviously mean paint my nails and wait for my friends to wake up so we could wander downtown for coffee.

Found a pot o'gold at the end of the rainbow! 

I..I..I... I work out! 

So that's precisely what we did. Also, I am getting my money's worth from the Kingfisher club. Gotta keep this physique up if I wanna have Bulmers and eat delicious Guinness stew!! If you have never tried it, go and find the recipe for it now and make it. It will change your life. Another thing to be said about cooking in Galway- things like baking powder and baking soda and some sugars are labeled completely differently than in the states. There, don't say you've never been warned. Also, applesause and pumpkin puree are almost impossible to find here. I have no idea what fall will come to without these ingredients. I get a little depressed thinking of a fall without any pumpkin bread... I have at least learned how to make homemade apple sauce! Friday night was the evening we just chilled and make gluten-free nutella cookies. These things are to die for, and you really get your money's worth. I think we ended up with about 30 cookies from one batch. I now know how I will make friends in my classes ;)

So now we're up to date until today- probably the most exciting day of the week for you, my dear reader, because this is the day that I broke out Nala the nikon (yes, that happened. I named my camera Nala. My cannon is Connie. Judge me- I dare you). Anyways, today is the day I have the most photos from- today is the day we went to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.

They were absolutely breathtaking. Petrifying, but breathtaking. We saw a lot of other sights on our tour- our great bus driver, Desmond, aka "King of the Burren" let us take a lot of mini stops since it was a beautiful and non-rainy day (rare in Ireland). We saw old churches and castles and ruins from the famine and wells and limestone for MILES and way too many things to remember at once. I took photos but sadly can't remember half of the stuff behind them. I don't do well as a rushed photographer; I'm so worried about getting the shot that I often forget to listen to what I should be shooting. (Me? A listening problem? Weird, right?) On the plus side, I can take this tour as many times as I want to for the rest of the semester for FREE :) Student discount FTW, so maybe next time around I can actually listen to the tales behind everything I see. We had a delicious lunch at this pub- my first time with Guinness stew- and some homemade fudge. Then, we headed on up the rocky cliffs. Desmond told a great joke on the way up.

"This Catholic priest has died and is waiting to talk to Peter to get in to the pearly gates. Peter finally comes and talks to him. The priest says "Oh Peter, I have waited my whole life for this. I want to get in to Heaven." Peter replies "Now wait just a minute there, sir. It's not that easy. Tell me about what you did on Earth, and then I will decide whether or not you are fit to pass." The priest then begins divulging about his flock and his sermons and his charity work, but Peter shakes his head. "Not enough," Peter tells him. Desmond walks up and approaches Peter. "Not so fast," says Peter. "It's not that easy to get in to Heaven. Tell me about what you have done on Earth, and I will decide whether or not you are fit to enter." Desmond tells Peter, "Well, I worked for the Galway tour company driving a coach to the Cliffs of Moher." Peter stands aside and says, "Please, come in." Now, the priest is pretty upset and turns heatedly to Peter. "How come he got in so easily and I can't get in at all?" Peter turns and says, "Son, your work was good, but you only had your flock praying for an hour on Sunday morning. Desmond's, however, was praying 6 days a week and for 7 hours straight, from the moment they got on the bus to the moment they got off".


Silly Desmond.


We started the day off at a little "fairy cove" as Desmond called it. He told us this is where you see fairies and leprechauns

Found them! 

We then went to an ancient tomb. There are remains here from thousands of years back. He also told us that the way the ancient Celtic tribes used to live was by burying themselves down in ravines and ditches in order to escape the elements. Pretty brave and smart if you ask me.

So I like to adventure... 

Afterwards we headed to see the High Crosses. This old church was beautiful and kept up. Not exactly renovated, but still useable. The sights around this place were spectacular. 

And finally, we have the Cliffs themselves. My words cannot do them justice, so I will allow you to browse these for your enjoyment and read my captions.

Obviously not the cliffs, but I love my camera! Got this shot while at the Cliffs, though, so it counts! 

THE CLIFFS ON INSANITY!!

They look almost unreal

Definitely DID NOT jump the fence to get this shot.. nope, not me....

Have I mentioned Ireland is windy? 

On the way back down, we stopped and hiked a bit on the Burren. I'm glad I got to do this today. The hiking club is taking their first venture out there tomorrow and as much as I'd love to go, I'm tired and don't feel like spending 8 more euros to do it. Sleeping in tomorrow for the win. But they are definitely worth seeing!

So happy to be here! 

We're having artsy competitions. 

Personally I think I'm winning ;) 

And this little beauty is one of the oldest castles built in the 1700's. I can't remember what it's called, but I do remember that no one has lived in it since the 1970's. What is so unique about this castle, though, is the water around it. This photo is currently high tide. I wasn't able to get a low-tide shot, but 6 hours before this picture was taken, everywhere there is water was nothing but rocks and seaweed. Nature is so freakin cool!!

So until next time, my fair weathered friends.